BRISTOL, R.I. - Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) each blasted home runs in game one before a five-run seventh lifted the Roger Williams University Baseball team to double-header sweep of no. 19 nationally ranked Trinity (Conn.) at Paolino Field on Sunday afternoon. Chris Crawford (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) threw five-plus strong innings and got plenty of run support in a 7-4 game one win before the Hawks offense exploded for seven runs in the final two innings to earn the come-from-behind victory in game two, 7-5. With the sweep, the Hawks wrap up a flawless 4-0 weekend and improve to 5-1 on the season which is good for their best six-game start since 2008.
 
Hawk Highlights
Game 1
Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.): 3-for-3, HR, SB, RS, 3 RBI
Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.): 1-for-2, HR, BB, 2 RS RBI
Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.): 1-for-3, 2B, RS, RBI
Chris Crawford (Putnam Valley, N.Y.): (W, 1-0), 4.0+ IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.): (SV, 2), 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
 
For The Opponents
Jack Mathews (Westport, Conn.): 2-for-3, RS, RBI
Mike Guanci (Wakefield, Mass.): 1-for-1, BB, RS
Jimmy Fahey (Danbury, Conn.): (L, 0-1), 3.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
 
How It Happened
Chris Crawford (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) got the ball for his first career start and got off to a strong start by striking out the first two men he faced, and despite surrendering a two-out double to Sean Meth (Sands Point, N.Y.), he promptly picked him off to end the inning.
 
Offensively, the Hawks got right to work against Trinity starter Jimmy Fahey (Danbury, Conn.). Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) had a leadoff single and stole second before Brandon Jenkins (East Bridgewater, Mass.) blasted a two-run shot to right-center field for his first home run of the season.
 
The Bantams got their first two men on in the second on back-to-back singles, but Crawford worked his way out of it by inducing a 6-3 double play and then picking up his third strikeout.
 
In the home half of the frame, Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) drove one to the opposite-field and over the fence down the right field line for his second home run of the campaign.
 
Trinity worked its way back in the third, they started the inning with a Mike Guanci (Wakefield, Mass.) walk, a sacrifice bunt, and a single by Jack Mathews (Westport, Conn.) to put runners on the corners with one out. Then an errand pickoff by Crawford scored a run and put Mathews on second, he then advanced on a passed ball, and came home on a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-2.
 
The Bantams tied the game in the fourth by manufacturing a run on a walk, a groundout that advanced the runner, and a single by Colin Mann (Dedham, Mass.). Mann was then caught by George Somers (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) trying to take second to end the threat.
 
The Hawks took the lead for good in the home half. Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) led off with a single into right, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and then to third on a wild pitch. Bonavita drew a walk and took second on defensive indifference to put runners on second and third. Massaro came home as Somers dumped a single into left before Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) blasted a ground-rule double down the right field line plating Bonavita. This chased the Trinity starter Fahey and their first reliever walked Gulino to load the bases. A Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) sacrifice fly followed by a Jenkins RBI-single concluded the four-run fourth that saw the Hawks send all nine men to the plate.
 
Trinity got one back in the fifth as a Guanci leadoff double ended Crawford's outing. Conor Gaughan (Walpole, Mass.) came on to pitch and allowed the inherited runner to score on a sacrifice bunt followed by a sacrifice fly, and while he made things interesting, he worked through the fifth without any further damage.
 
Adam Harz (Manchester, Conn.) twirled a scoreless sixth before Chris Flynn (Naugatuck, Conn.) worked around a walk and a hit to strike out three men in the seventh to lock down his second save in as many days.
 
Crawford allowed four runs, only three of them earned, across his solid four-plus innings of work to earn the win while Fahey was tagged with all seven RWU runs across 3.1 frames to earn the loss.
 
Coach's Corner
Chris Crawford got his first start of the season and pitched great for four innings punching out four.  He was around the zone all game and mixed his pitches well.  Our bullpen held it down for the next three innings, keeping a good Trinity lineup off the board.  Chris Flynn slammed the door shut by striking out the side.  Offensively, Jenkins led the way with three hits including a two-run home run to put us up 2-0 early in the game. Bonavita also chipped in with a home run in the second and Eddy Jackson hit a ground-rule double to extend our lead.  Defensively, we played pretty clean but still have some work to do on that side of the ball.  
 
Game 2
Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.): 2-for-3, 2B, BB, RS, RBI
Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.): 1-for-3, 3B, BB, 2 RS, RBI
Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.): 1-for-1, 2B, 2 BB, RS, RBI
Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.): (ND), 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
Matt Vernacatola (Berlin, Conn.): (W, 1-1), 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Connor Padovich (Bristol, R.I.): (SV, 1) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
 
For The Opponents
Colin Mann (Dedham, Mass.): 3-for-5, RBI
Patrick Dillon (Bronx, N.Y.): 2-for-4, RS, RBI
Ian Brown (Tampa, Fla.): (ND), 5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
William Simeone (Milton, Mass.): (L, 1-1), 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
 
How it Happened
Both offenses were slow to get going in this one as Dan Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.) and Trinity starter Ian Brown (Tampa, Fla.) matched zeros through the first four frames.
 
The Bantams broke through first in the fifth inning. Trinity got going with a hit batsman, a Patrick Dillon (Bronx, N.Y.) single, and a wild pitch to put runners on second and third with one out. Jack Mathews (Westport, Conn.) tapped one to short and reached on an error, bringing home the run before a Vincent Capone (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) sacrifice fly made it 2-0 and concluded Massaro's outing.
 
After finally chasing Brown out of the game with two outs in the sixth, the Hawks offense erupted against the Bantams bullpen in the seventh. After getting the final out of the previous inning, William Simeone (Milton, Mass.) started the frame and allowed a leadoff walk to Matt Massaro (Fairfield, Conn.). Tommy Hobin (Madison, Conn.) finally got the home team on the board by splitting the right-center field gap for an RBI-triple before back-to-back run-scoring doubles off the bats of Ben Bonavita (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Jack Morin (North Andover, Mass.) thrust the Hawks in front. Eddy Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) then dropped down a sacrifice bunt but reliever Alex Chang (Sands Point, N.Y.), who had entered the game to face Morin, tried to get the runner at third but instead threw the ball down the left field line to bring home another run and put Jackson on second. Jackson stole third and later scored on a wild pitch by the Bantams third pitcher of the inning, Justin Olson (Avon, Conn.). When it was all said and done, the Hawks sent ten men to the plate and scored five runs in the inning.
 
Trinity cut the lead to one in the top of the eighth. The first two men reached on a single and a hit by pitch before a fielder's choice put runners on first and second with one out. Patrick Dillon (Bronx, N.Y.) knocked a run scoring single into left ahead of a sacrifice fly to put runners on the corners with two away. Brandon Chow (Greenwich, Conn.) pinch ran for Dillon and took second on defensive indifference as Mathews hit a grounder to second that ate up Roger Williams second baseman Danny Roth (West Hartford, Conn.) and trickled into shallow right field. The runner from third scored but Chow was gunned down at the plate trying to score from second on the play as the Hawks escaped further damage.
 
The offense added some insurance in the home half as a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs. After a strikeout for the first out of the inning, a Joey Gulino (Meriden, Conn.) single followed by Tyler Cedeno (Maynard, Mass.) getting plunked forced home a pair of runs to extend the lead to 7-4.
 
The Bantams got an unearned run in the ninth but Connor Padovich (Bristol, R.I.) finished off the come-from-behind victory.
 
While neither factored into the decision, Massaro and Brown were great as their team's respective starters. Massaro went the first 4.2 allowing just two runs, one earned while Brown tossed 5.2 innings of shutout baseball allowing just a single hit. However, this game came down to the bullpens, Simeone surrendered three runs to take the loss for Trinity while Matt Vernacatola (Berlin, Conn.) threw 2.2 innings in relief to earn the win. Padovich pitched the ninth to lock down the save.
 
Coach's Corner
Dan Massaro, pitched great in his first college career start keeping Trinity off-balance through four. Again, the bullpen came up huge keeping us in the game and allowing our offense to come to life in the seventh. Matt Massaro got on to lead off the seventh and Hobin drove him in with a triple to spark our offense. We then decided to play a little small ball and put pressure on the defense which worked and we capitalized on their mistake. The biggest take from both games is the resiliency that we showed as a team. Never giving up no matter the score or the inning.  Extremely proud of my guys this entire weekend.
 
What's Next
The Hawks travel up to Providence to play a make-up game that was postponed from Friday against Rhode Island College. First pitch is set for 3:30.